Conn-Selmer Centerstage

Wayne Jackson

Artist's Biography

Wayneâ€™s Story

He recorded a hit song his first day in the studio. He\'s played on 52 Number One records and 83 Gold and Platinum records. He\'s toured the world and shared the stage with many of the most influential artists in modern music.

If there\'s such a thing as destiny, then it\'s safe to say Wayne Jackson has a purpose on this earth. From the time he was six telling his grandmother he would one day be on the radio to missing rides on Otis Redding\'s airplane crash and Stevie Ray\'s helicopter crash, life\'s been dealing him a deck of cards that just won\'t stop.

Born in Memphis and raised across the river in the sleepy, cotton town of West Memphis, Arkansas, Wayne\'s love of music began with a guitar. Then one night his mother came home with a trumpet for her eleven-year-old son. \"I opened up the case, and it smelled like oil and brass. I loved that, so I put it together, blew, and out came a pretty noise. My first taste of Sweet Medicine.\" The rest is music history.

Wayne played in the junior high and senior high bands taking all honors at the local and state level. Soon he was sneaking out the back window to go play at the Jungle Inn on Highway Seventy. And then it happened. In the 12th grade, he found himself playing with a group called The Mar-Keys. They had a number one instrumental smash called, \"Last Night.\" It was 1961.

What followed was a magical ride making music history with Otis, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Eddie Floyd, Albert King and the rest of the Stax Records roster. \"Back then, we had to do those songs from front to back with no mistakes and with good feelings. That\'s what made musicians out of us. That\'s what trained us. Now musicians all around the world judge their performances against those records with us on them, and that\'s why we\'re heroes.\"

In 1969, Wayne and sax man, Andrew Love, incorporated as The Memphis Horns and began offering their signature sound to artists around the world. Wayne found himself in the studio with a host of stars such as Elvis, Neil Diamond, B.J. Thomas, James Taylor, Al Green, Aretha Franklin and out on the road touring with Stephen Stills, Rod Stewart and The Doobie Brothers. After moving to Nashville in the late Seventies, Wayne decided to trade in life on rock and roll jetliners for life on a billybus. He spent three years traveling the roads with country music legend, Marty Robbins, during which time he became the only horn player ever to perform on the Grand Ole Opry.

Then in the mid-Eighties Peter Gabriel called, and Wayne\'s work on \"Sledgehammer\" catapulted him back on top of rock and roll. From that day through this day, Wayne has been in the studio with Neil Young, U2, Billy Joel, Steve Winwood, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, Jack White, Lenny Kravitz, Collective Soul, just to name a few, and on the road with Stephen Stills, The Doobie Brothers, Joe Cocker, Jimmy Buffett, Robert Cray, Luther Allison.

To sum it all up, Wayne says, \"My life, so far, has been filled with Sweet Medicine and is a bridge spanning five generations of American music.\"

Wayneâ€™s two books about his life and adventures entitled, In My Wildest Dreams - Take 1 and In My Wildest Dreams - Take 2 are now available in paperback on Amazon. He also writes songs for Sweet Medicine Music, the publishing company he formed with his wife, Amy. His song, Christmas Can\'t Be Very Far Away, was featured on Amy Grant\'s 1999 album, A Christmas To Remember.

Wayne, Amy and pup, Gracie, moved back home to Memphis in 2010 after fourteen years in Nashville and are happy to be rolling on the River once again.

Wayne and his partner, Andrew, just received the highest honor in the music industry this February...a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Discography

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Join the Family of Conn-Selmer Artists!

Are you an instrumentalist currently performing on a Conn-Selmer brand instrument? If you are interested in becoming a Conn-Selmer artist, we would like to hear from you! We welcome applications from musicians on all woodwind, brass, string, and percussion instruments. For more information on the application procedure and Conn-Selmer Artist Program, please contact us.